Reports two studies demonstrating the ability of nonverbal contextual cues to act as retrieval mechanisms for co-occurring language. Suggests that visual contextual cues, such as speech primacy and motor primacy gestures, can access linguistic target information. Motor primacy cues are shown to act as stronger retrieval cues. (JMF)

The visual short-term cued recall memory of 8-, 12-, and 16-month-olds was assessed in two experiments using an operant indirect delayed-reaction procedure. In each experiment, 12- and 16-month olds performed better than chance, whereas 8-month-old infants did not. (Author/DB)

Examines the role of affect in children's attribution of intentionality and dispensation of punishment. Subjects were 12 boys and 12 girls at each of three grade levels: kindergarten and first and second grades. (CM)

Describes an experiment in which a subject spent more than 230 hours of practice in a laboratory and was able to increase his memory span from 7 to 79 digits. The results suggest that practice with an appropriate mnemonic system can increase memory performance. (Author/SA)

Results suggested that the provision of constraining retrieval cues may have encouraged Ss to adopt a passive role in list learning, a tendency that proved to be detrimental to subsequent uncued list processing. (Author)

Black and White preadolescents rated ambiguously aggressive behaviors (AABs) as more mean and threatening when perpetrators were Black. Ratings of personal characteristics were generally determined by individual behavior, not by stereotypes. Blacks were rated as stronger than Whites. Whites tended to read threat into AABs and assume perpetrators…

A media package for group instruction in computer operations for deaf students is described. The package includes slides, captions stored on a filmstrip, and an illustrated workbook. The approach is explained to provide high flexibility at relatively low cost.

An approach to ameliorate social perception deficits in learning disabled children is described. Based on task analysis and diagnosis and prescription, the approach is seen to cover four stages in teaching nonverbal communication skills: discrimination of specific social cues (body language), understanding of the social meanings of such cues,…

A study of 8 preschoolers with word-finding deficits and 16 preschoolers with normal word-finding abilities examined the effects of priming on naming accuracy. Results indicated the preschoolers with word-finding deficits were unable to name as well as the other children when given primes as retrieval cues. (CR)

Examined whether preschool-age experts (with task experience) would spontaneously assist novices (without task experience) when working in pairs on constructing a house with blocks. Found that experts were more likely to provide nonverbal assistance than verbal assistance, with modeling how to combine blocks being most frequent. The most frequent…

Children were presented with a related-word triplet (horse, pig, cow) with or without accompanying setting, or place, information (farm). Children were later given a retrieval cue from the first two words of the triplet and asked to recall the third word. Found that place information presented at acquisition and retrieval facilitated children's…

An associative theory of memory is proposed to serve as a counterexample to claims that dissociations among episodic, semantic, and procedural memory tasks necessitate separate memory systems. The theory is based on task analyses of matching (recognition and familiarity judgments), retrieval (cued recall), and production (free association). (TJH)

Explores the content and structure of music videos, focusing on the pervasiveness of aggressive cues (objects or events representing physical harm or the threat of harm), gender portrayals within a context of aggression, and the pacing of music videos. Finds that aggressive cues in music videos are less prominent than critics indicate. (MM)

The relationship between non-verbal decoding ability and social intelligence, defined as the ability to decode social information accurately, was studied using 40 adults. Results are discussed in the framework of R. J. Sternberg's triarchic theory of human intelligence. Decoding skills appeared to be an important part of social intelligence. (SLD)

Measured covert shifts of visual attention of observers aged 6, 8, and 20 years in a speeded classification task. There were differences between children's and adults' attention orientation, target processing, and use of predictability in cues. (SAK)